I have a D90 with a broken latch for the pop up flash. Apparently the hub that the latch arm pivots on has broken or come loose down inside the camera. Now the latch has dropped down a bit into the camera, and now does not reach high enough to catch into the flash to lock it down. I have an estimate from a camera repair shop for about $250 to repair it. Seems much of the camera has to be disassembled, and the solenoid unit replaced.

I saw a camera with the same apparent problem for sale locally on craigslist a couple of weeks ago, and the local camera shop just had a D70 come in yesterday with the same apparent problem.

So I am wondering if this is really a common failure mode as it seems from my recent observations, and do all the Dx0 cameras have the same basic issue? And I am also curious about the D300 or D300s. With its more rugged construction, does it have the same plastic latch mechanism, or is it more solid?

My D90, though new to me, has just under 10,000 shutter clicks according the the exif data.

I have had my D300 ever since the day before Thanksgiving 2007 the day they were released. I have approximately 28,000 clicks, but I do not use the on board flash that much.

I have seen in several stores such as Best Buy, Costco, WalMart, etc. there display models of models D90 and down with this problem. So it would appear that the display models are not able to take great abuse.

I have not seen that in the display models, but it makes sense. They would get operated a lot. And I doubt there are many D300 or D300s models out for general hands on.

That said, it is hard to see how you would really abuse it. It took careful looking to see where the problem really was. For a while I thought maybe the lip up under the flash pop up was broken, but I looked at a D90 at Best Buy, and the pop up was identical to mine. but that latch stuck up a tiny bit farther.

It is hard to see how one could abuse it in normal use. The pop up is very stable when pushed down, and does not want to get out of alignment with the body such that the latch would hit in the wrong place. It seems more like use of the latch somehow causes it not to pivot freely. Then when you close it the latch arm support pivot gets stressed. That is all just my guess.

The thing about the D300 is that mode of failure can't happen because it's a simple latch directly moved by the button. In the D90 it's controlled electronically like you mentioned so you can't open the flash with the camera off. Even so, I've never heard of this problem and I know lots of people with low-end nikon bodies (including me with a D90). Good luck. Is it not under warranty?

jonnyapple, thanks for your info. Just might have to get a D300! I have not directly questioned Nikon, but I am not the original owner, and I believe the camera to be over a year old. So I think there is no warranty.

It seems to me it could not 'break', or whatever it did, unless the latch starts to bind first. Since the camera was new to me, I did not know what it should normally feel like, so did not recognize a problem quickly enough. So I think it is a good thing on this camera to periodically make sure the latch is nice and free. I think it can only break if you try and close it, and the latch does not pivot as it should.

Sandpiper said:
jonnyapple, thanks for your info. Just might have to get a D300! I have not directly questioned Nikon, but I am not the original owner, and I believe the camera to be over a year old. So I think there is no warranty.

It seems to me it could not 'break', or whatever it did, unless the latch starts to bind first. Since the camera was new to me, I did not know what it should normally feel like, so did not recognize a problem quickly enough. So I think it is a good thing on this camera to periodically make sure the latch is nice and free. I think it can only break if you try and close it, and the latch does not pivot as it should.

Sorry to hear about this problem that you have, I am in camera sales an honestly have not seen many with that problem, the last two was a Nikon D70, dropped and Canon XT water was spilled on top of camera and the electronic latch was jammed, but camera was fine. Hope you get it solved. I think the US warranty is 1 year, here in Canada it is 2 years

If you can deal with a couple of weeks without the camera, I think it's worth getting a quote from Nikon, sandpiper. They might do a repair under warranty (not likely) or at least for less than the local shop. $250 seems steep for something like that. It's the kind of thing that I would open my camera to look for an easy fix first, though. It could be that a couple of hours and a little Rube Goldberg engineering is all it takes to fix.

Okay, so that gave me an idea that I just tried. I taped back my latch so that it replicated your problem. When I put the flash down, the latch couldn't catch it and the flash popped right back up. My camera still recognized when the flash was up or down (watch the flash indicator on the top LCD). So really, it's just a matter of keeping the flash down when you want it.

Here's my new advice for you, then. Cut velcro to fit along the area just to either side of the flash (NOT over the flash, obviously) and the other half of the velcro to fit along the camera body at the same place when the flash is closed. The flash isn't recognized as being in the up position until it's about 10 degrees from fully upright, so it's okay if there's a little gap still. It will be a bit noisier, but at least you can open the flash when the camera is off, which other D90 owners can't say. It's a custom feature, right?

Thanks guys for the comments and ideas. It is possible that something got into the top of it and made the latch pivot sticky. It did not return freely to its normal position when I discovered the problem, so something was keeping it from moving properly.

The velcro is an interesting idea. Quite benign. I have downloaded the service manual, and it look like getting to the latch area is quite involved, requiring removal of many other pieces first. Some, such as the back, may have wires that need to be unsoldered from the circuit board to separate the pieces. That is not something I would trust to just anyone! There is an old saying "If it's not broke yet, it will be when I get done fixing it". The camera is totally functional now, and I am concerned about a significant teardown and reassembly. I have had people working for me that 'should' be able to remove and replace soldered wired on circuit boards, but some I would trust, and some I would not. So the jury is still out. Velcro may be in!

Having the latch controlled by the camera is supposed to be a feature so that the camera can open the flash (when the user doesn't know what's best for them) in auto mode. I guess in a way you pay a premium for having fewer of these kind of features in the pro models so that there are fewer potential problems. I'm starting to see why some people beg to never have a D5000-like articulating screen on the pro models.

jonnyapple said:
It's the kind of thing that I would open my camera to look for an easy fix first, though. It could be that a couple of hours and a little Rube Goldberg engineering is all it takes to fix.

So, you would really take your camera apart? I assume you meant that, and so that is what I did. I was able to purchase a manual for the camera on-line that describes how to repair. So, I took the bottom off, took the back off, the front off, the left and right sides off, and then the top loose. I did not unsolder the wires between the top and the body, so it was still attached.

Inside the top, I found the flash pop-up release solenoid, and the stamped metal frame it mounts on. There is a release latch mounting tab that is part of this frame that I was able to reposition by bending slightly, and put the release tab back where it should be to catch the pop-up. Put it all back together, the camera is now functioning, and the flash locks down.

This is the 'executive overview', and does not include details such as the BGLOD or how to overcome it.

I had to look up bglod. Yes, I was saying I would have opened it up, but I see now that I was also opening myself up for lawsuits or hate mail. That's great that you got it working. So, did the bglod happen after opening it up? I love troubleshooting and I'd like to know what you did to get rid of it if you feel like explaining (it might happen to me some day, right?).

Sandpiper said:
So, you would really take your camera apart? I assume you meant that, and so that is what I did. I was able to purchase a manual for the camera on-line that describes how to repair. So, I took the bottom off, took the back off, the front off, the left and right sides off, and then the top loose. I did not unsolder the wires between the top and the body, so it was still attached.

Inside the top, I found the flash pop-up release solenoid, and the stamped metal frame it mounts on. There is a release latch mounting tab that is part of this frame that I was able to reposition by bending slightly, and put the release tab back where it should be to catch the pop-up. Put it all back together, the camera is now functioning, and the flash locks down.

This is the 'executive overview', and does not include details such as the BGLOD or how to overcome it.

You know I have some problems with my Brownie Camera, any ideas what to do, Just kidding, great that you got your D90 fixed

jonnyapple said:
I had to look up bglod. Yes, I was saying I would have opened it up, but I see now that I was also opening myself up for lawsuits or hate mail. That's great that you got it working. So, did the bglod happen after opening it up? I love troubleshooting and I'd like to know what you did to get rid of it if you feel like explaining (it might happen to me some day, right?).

I have found this site pleasantly free of hate mail, enough so that I have considered commenting on it in a post. As far as a law suit, I figure if I just say what I did, I should be OK. I did not suggest anyone else do it.

Yes, the bglod did happen when I put it back together the first and second times. It was caused by me not fully seating three flexible printed circuit (FPC) connectors. There are two that connect the body to the back, and you have to disconnect them. They have a clamping latch in the connector in the back. You have to lift the little black latch, and pull out the FPCs. When you put it back together, you have to push the flexible circuit back into the female connector on the back, then push the latch down. I found it difficult to push in far enough, and resorted to using tweezers to push in on each side, rocking it in. This was the wider of the two connectors.

The flexible connector has two rows of contacts, and if you don't push it in far enough, then they don't contact the pins they should. They may very well short pins together or connect to the wrong things, and you might run the risk of damaging your IC's in the camera by making this mistake. Mine lived, but I am obligated to say you may kill your camera doing this. Handling the flexible connector, and pushing it in by hand or with tweezers, you risk cracking the circuit traces and ruining it.

If you should decide to do this anyway, then before you disconnect these connectors, you should take note of the position of the back side of the heavy brown strip at the end of the FPC, and note its position relative to the metal ground plate behind and under it, the back edge should just line up with the plate. If it overlaps it, then it is not in far enough.

Be warned that when handling the camera with the covers off, you will be exposing the printed circuit boards. If you don't take proper cautions to prevent static discharge, you could damage your camera from static buildup in your body, your chair, or whatever.

There is a third flexible connector you have to remove, and it connects the camera body to the top plate. It is easier to get to, and is the one that I used to figure out just how far the connector really needs to be seated in order to be correct.

The screw used to hold the camera together are all different lengths, and you must keep track of where each one goes when they are removed. If you remove the front cover and the top, then you expose the flash capacitor, which will be charged to maybe 300 volts of so, and is dangerous. It should be discharged when you remove the front cover.

All things considered, I don't recommend anyone else try this. You could easily damage your camera or get zapped by the flash capacitor. An experienced Nikon repairman should be able to repair or replace the flash latch mechanism in a few hours.

sandpiper - had the same problem with my new d300s, just 2 months after purchase, just picked up the camera from the service - the repair required 1.5 working hour and one spare part, it was free of charge as it was under warranty.

I noticed cameras with a crapdial (Dx with auto modes have the lath issue as the camera can also determine when to use the flash too) The d7000 and above have a fully manual and more durable latch. (the flash can be opened when the camera is off too). I haven't an issue with mine but you will need to take it in...